1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generating animations, and in particular relates to customising distributed animation data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Animations are used widely in television broadcasting, as a useful graphical method for the presentation of information. For example, in an election broadcast, statistics can be presented in a way so as to communicate complex information to viewers. Such animations are usually generated digitally, relying on complex digital systems to render the information graphically, and to receive new data from an on-line database. Several graphics can be sequenced in time in what is referred to as a rundown, and the corresponding animation sequence can be cued manually or automatically by a studio automation system, such as that provided by the MOS (Media Object Server) protocol.
The design of such animations is a complex and time intensive process. All the objects of an animation are defined as combinations of primitive geometric shapes, such as cubes, spheres and so on. Surface textures, text fonts, and three dimensional views are all coordinated by the graphic designer to create the best effect. Animations comprise multiple moving objects, so as to provide a more exciting visual scene. In order to do this, the designer must define the motion, as well as the appearance, of objects contained in the animation. This can take considerable design effort. As the capabilities of animation processing systems increase, the possibilities for detail and visual richness put additional pressure on the designer.
Due to the high financial cost of this design effort, it is desirable to provide an end-user of the animation with a degree of editing capability, to allow their changing animation requirements to be met within practical budgets. Animations systems are therefore known which allow customisation of an animation by provision of an Application Programming Interface (API).
Although a cost effective customisation capability is required by the end-user, if it is unlimited, editing may be allowed which would be undesirable to the original animation designer. For example, some characteristics of an animation may contain valuable copyrighted graphic designs, trade marks, trade names, recognisable animated characters, etc., whose integrity the designer would wish to protect. It would therefore be advantageous for the designer to be able to restrict end-user access to certain characteristics of an animation while allowing editing of other, less critical characteristics.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image data processing system for generating an executable animation file, comprising: data storage means storing first graphical data, second graphical data and rendering instructions; and processing means configured to combine said first graphical data and said rendering instructions, wherein said second graphical data comprises unlocked parameters defining second characteristics of said animation; said first graphical data comprises locked parameters defining first characteristics of an animation and references to said unlocked parameters; said combining process results in an executable animation file being generated, containing within it references to said unlocked parameters, such that: said first animation characteristics are editable only at a first level of user access, prior to said combination of first graphic data and rendering instructions; and said second animation characteristics are editable at a second level of user access, after said combining has taken place.
In a preferred embodiment the processing means is configured to execute steps to scramble the first graphic data contained in the executable file. Preferably the second graphical data comprises metadata, and for each of a plurality of unlocked parameters the metadata contains a specific value and an identifying means for identifying the corresponding unlocked parameter, to allow the construction of an interface for the unlocked parameters for user modification of the second animation characteristics. Preferably the rendering instructions include instructions to combine the rendered animation with other moving image data.